Hmm, well, let's see. John is 6' 9"...I'm 5' 1.5". John weighs 236, I weigh 114. I'm female, over 55. John looks like a 'young'un'. If I were YOUR age, height, etc. I'd have a post workout meal like yours TOO!!! Heh, heh! Good for YOU John, heh heh...I have a 19 yr. old Grandson who can eat like that, workout and is in great health. He got the 'lifting bug' from me (and brags about his 'Nana' doing 40lb. one arm rows w/dumbbells).

I'm also: hypothyroid (well replaced with all thyroid hormones), have four autoimmune diseases. BUT.....I've found that with cycling my calories and my carbs (I have a daily 'chart' that lists my cals, and macros for each day, and my highest day is 1955 calories, which is a LOT for a little person like ME...but I do NOT gain weight from it, I drop fat percentage and gain muscle ...not at the same time though).

I lost my weight lowcarb (Protein Power/Atkins rungs for addback) and keep my lowest carbs at around 40 net, and highest at around 70net. I do NOT eat starchy carbs unless it's put after a workout. I do my small amount of cardio fasted, wait and hour, and then eat a higher fibrous carb meal coupled with protein and the least amount of fat I can do.

My once a week day off/1900 and some calorie day is really fun!

For my starting routines/eats I used Tom Venuto's plan Burn Fat Feed Muscle. (It's an Ebook).

Amen! They do want the magic wand don't they? I like it when doctors and medical personnel tell me 'lowcarb just makes you lose water weight'. Then I tell them how much I weigh, they know how much I USED to weigh and then I say 'I was on the toilet for two years getting rid of all that water'

Pam

I am just having a little bit of a pity party for myself

My neighbor runs a daycare and she called me this morning wondering if I could fill in for her for a bit today. Yep...not a problem unless that is, I forget to bring something with me in case she is later than she thinks she will be. My stomach knows that it should have some fuel being added to it now and it is growling terribly

Pity party over...I WILL survive

Neanderpam - thanks for sharing your story...very inspiring!

John P - Your post workout meal looks awesome...You definitely get a high five from the Hamburger Helper glove guy! My brother and husband can also put away huge meals. My husband used to eat 2 footlong subs when he was in college. Of course he also used to eat whole frozen pizzas with dried ramen noodles too...the guy can EAT.

I am down one more pound this week, I hope the weight loss will continue. I know there are lots of ways to lose weight but I like this way the most and hope that it continues to work for me. Even 1 or 2 pounds a month would be great. As long as I don't see the scale keep going up it's all good. I am tired of feeling uncomfortable in my body.

Tomorrow is my daughter's second birthday so I will be eating goodies outside of my window...can't decide if I want to change my window tomorrow or make it my higher calorie day.

Lauralyn, how did it go with the day care? I'm hoping that when your window opened, you didn't go nuts on the baby food!

SarahMac, good luck tomorrow! I'm sure you will do great!


Today I didn't eat until 4, unintentionally, but I didn't go out of my mind or anything which is good. I managed to make a reasonably well-thought-out presentation at work around 3. This is proof that I can function without food. No one tell my taste buds.

Hope everyone else is doing great!

Tx, when I posted that I was in my window...I was in my window for over another hour. Baby food would have been good
By the time she came back I was ready to chew my arm off and I was well on my way to a full 24 hr fast considering the night before I ate last at 5pm. Oh well, I guess I proved to myself that I am not up for a 24 hr fast anytime in the near future.

I bet you might surprise yourself. Not that I'm encouraging you to try a 24 hr fast if you don't feel up to it, but theoretically, if you were...When you wake up with the mindset of "I'm not eating today until Xpm (whatever would make it a 24 hr fast)," you'd be surprised with how easy it can be. Not that it's eeeaaasy, per say, especially the first few times. But it's easier to do a 24 hr fast when you're mentally prepared to not eat until much later in the day than when you had planned on eating earlier but HAVE to do a 24 hr fast do to circumstances. Now that I've gotten back in the groove of my 24 hr fasts every Sunday, I start mentally preparing myself for it. Not that it requires a pep talk or serious meditation or anything, but it'll cross my mind that I won't be eating until 7pm on Sunday. So when Sunday morning comes, I don't wake up with a panic of "OMG, I can't eat until tonight!?" Just like when you're starting daily IF, if you wake up assuming you'll eat breakfast and then for whatever reason don't eat until that afternoon, you're going to feel frustrated, hungry, food-on-the-brain, and deprived all day because you didn't get the food when you expected. When we aren't expecting to eat until later, it's easier.

Looong winded way of saying...the 24 hr fasts really aren't too scary.

mkendrick~ I totally understand what you are saying and you are probably right. I just might start mentally prepping myself for a 24 hr fast in the near future...might

I'm doing my second 24 hr fast this weekend. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be last time, so I'm hoping it's at least equal if not better now that I'm not so freaked out about what I might do I've got a really busy day planned tomorrow, with a lot of driving. Should keep me distracted enough until tea... Here it goes!

I'm thinking I want to give this a try. I believe it's how I like to eat naturally, and I believe in listening to my body for guidance on what it needs, but the overwhelming advice to me (because of type 2 diabetes, PCOS, etc.) over the last few years was to push eating five to six smaller meals a day. But if the IF is supposed to be better for insulin resistance, then I'm switching!

Frankly, I love a nice big meal at the end of the day. I love having a few cups of tea throughout the morning and not eating till after lunchtime. I have noticed I lost more weight and was less stressed when I eat that way. I tend to do my weight training in the afternoon/evening, so I can easily support that with an appropriate meal right afterwards.

Woo! Good luck and let us know how it goes!

I still feel like I'm standing round the playground wanting to join your gang but not quite making it yet. (That's to do with me, not you!)
I am still intrigued by this WoE.
I didn't do it last week. The evil depression got me, my butt was welded to the settee except when I was out buying chocolate, or my new best friend, toffee.
However, I determined to try again yesterday, and oh! the relief. I'm still having to work on not eating like a waste disposal in the window but having a 'not until' and a 'not after' time really works for my brain, and at least the window is relatively small.
Yesterday was my One Good Day, after a dozen really bingey ones. Today I'll do my drndest to make my Second.

Okay, first official day of IF...so I had the celebratory indulgence last night that I'm regretting today. But perhaps I don't have to be so hard on myself. Overeating last night fuelled me for this morning's avoidance of the kitchen. I slept in some too.

I plan to not eat until after 1 p.m. and to quit by 8 p.m.

I plan to continue to weigh myself on Friday mornings, right after Pilates class. Before the weekends when I lose my resolve and have pizza with the kids. After the week of getting past doing pennance for the pizza indulgences.

Hey, I do have a plan after all!

(Later in the day...)

Just had my first meal of the day. Made it to after 1 p.m., ate exactly what I wanted...a salad made up of 3 cups arugula, 1 can Trader Joe's tuna packed in olive oil, 4 Tbs. sliced olives, 2 Tbs roasted and unsalted sunflower seeds, 1 spring onion, 1 large tomato, olive oil and lemon juice dressing. It tasted marvelous, but I was still feeling hungry after eating. I've chosen to let 20 minutes pass before making an additional choice, and I drank 2 cups of water. So far, doing okay.

(Officially done eating for the day at 8 p.m.)

Well, I can't say I ate less than I normally do. I found myself to be more aggitated later in the day, like a low blood sugar thing, so I wanted to eat more. When dinner finally rolled around, I overate whole wheat pasta...don't often have cravings for that, but perhaps TOM can be given some of the blame for that tonight. I didn't binge, just had a triple serving. I gave myself the limit, in case I was still "hungry". At the moment, I feel full, but still edgy. I accidently ate something with hidden soy in it a few hours ago and it's really bothering me. I think I'm going to go to bed early tonight.

Am I trying to control too much? Steering around a food allergy and sensitivity is a must-do if I want to function normally every day. Avoiding eating seems simple enough to do earlier in the day. But staying within the calories and carbs when I'm really hungry and edgy is going to be tough. I hope tomorrow is better.

I have survived this morning without coffee so far, although I'm about to make some. Feeling edgy. Worried that when it comes time to eat in about an hour, I'll be unable to make a wise choice. So glad I'm not going out to eat today!

I've been on this plan a whole day and my mother is already freaking about not being able to give me food to eat when I go to her house. It's her sickness, to feed me, and she acts like I'm rejecting her when I don't eat what she offers. And she never seems to offer what I will allow myself to have. I eat low carb, very controlled, and she's always cooking something for me with potatoes or rice in it! WTH!!!???

"But it's natural," she whines.

"So is marijuana! I don't see that anywhere around here!"

Yep, I'm edgy and cranky from not eating this morning or having my coffee!

yeah i am sure it is TOM i am always so hungry during it. but for me anyways i haven't got very hungry at all on IF and low carb, i have the urge to snack late night but i just have to say no..its not hunger just habit.